


Surprise

by Robin Hood (kjack89)



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Accidental Outing, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Birthday, Coming Out, Established Relationship, M/M, Surprise Party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-04
Packaged: 2020-10-09 22:56:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20517809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kjack89/pseuds/Robin%20Hood
Summary: Barba sighed, his expression souring. “As you all hopefully realize, today is Sonny’s birthday.”For some reason, he glared at all of them as if they were personally responsible for it being his boyfriend’s birthday, and Fin elbowed Amanda in the side. “Were we supposed to get him a gift, or—”Barba switched his glare to Fin. “Personally, I think surprise parties are extremely distasteful, in no small part because I dislike being surprised—”“Control freak,” Amanda muttered.“—but Sonny has always wanted one, so for his fortieth birthday, I decided to throw him a surprise party tonight at Forlini’s.”





	Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> Finally finished bingeing season 5 of Schitt's Creek and as soon as I saw the episode with Patrick's surprise party, I knew I had to do a Barisi version.
> 
> Obviously rather liberally borrowed from Schitt's Creek season 5, episode 11, for this, but with a Barisi twist.
> 
> Usual disclaimer. Please be kind and tip your fanfic writers in the form of comments and/or kudos!

Olivia ushered Fin and Amanda into her office, looking unusually harried for as early in the morning as it was. “Liv, what the hell—” Amanda broke off when she saw Barba standing with his arms crossed, also looking unusually agitated. “We catch a case?”

“Not quite,” Olivia muttered, slumping down at her desk and grabbing her cup of coffee. “Rafael?”

Barba sighed, his expression souring. “As you all hopefully realize, today is Sonny’s birthday.”

For some reason, he glared at all of them as if they were personally responsible for it being his boyfriend’s birthday, and Fin elbowed Amanda in the side. “Were we supposed to get him a gift, or—”

Barba switched his glare to Fin. “Personally, I think surprise parties are extremely distasteful, in no small part because I dislike being surprised—”

“Control freak,” Amanda muttered.

“—but Sonny has always wanted one, so for his fortieth birthday, I decided to throw him a surprise party tonight at Forlini’s.”

Amanda and Fin exchanged glances. “This is a little last minute,” she pointed out. “I mean, I don’t have a sitter for Jesse and Billie, and we might have a case—”

“I’ve got that all handled,” Olivia interrupted. “Thanks to Rafael’s, um—” She glanced sideways at him. “—constant reminders over the past few weeks, I’ve arranged for Lucy to take Noah over to your place, Amanda. And unless there’s an emergency, we’re fairly well set as far as cases go. And Carisi’s out running down some loose ends on the Ramsey case so he won’t be underfoot for most of the day.”

Barba nodded authoritatively. “I’ve been working on this for several weeks now. I simply waited to tell you both until today because I know that neither of you can keep a secret.”

Amanda scowled but Fin just shrugged. “Yeah, that’s fair,” he said.

“Also, as an extra surprise, I’ve invited Sonny’s parents tonight, which will be my first time officially meeting them.”

And suddenly it became quite clear why Barba was even tighter wound than usual. “So your first time meeting Sonny’s parents, your first time celebrating his birthday as an official couple, and your first time throwing a surprise party,” Amanda said, sounding amused. “No wonder you’re freaking out.”

Barba’s resulting glare could’ve stripped paint from the wall. “I am not freaking out,” he said through clenched teeth. “I have a plan, and provided that everything goes to plan, it will be the perfect night.” He straightened, smoothing the front of his suit coat. “Now, as this will be the only surprise party I anticipate ever throwing, I assume that I can count on you to ensure that tonight there will be a surprise, complete with singing, merriment, and even tears.”

“Oh, there’ll be tears alright,” Fin muttered. “Even though they’ll probably be his own.”

Olivia cleared her throat, shooting Fin a warning glance. “You two, go work on that backlog of paperwork you’ve amassed between you. I will sort out all the details for tonight with Rafael.”

Neither Fin nor Amanda needed to be told twice, both escaping from Liv’s office, Amanda tossing her an apologetic look over her shoulder as she closed the door behind her.

“So,” she said, sitting down at her desk. “Surprise party for Carisi. Thrown by Barba. With Carisi’s parents there.”

Fin just grunted. “The real surprise will be if he pulls it off.”

“Yeah,” Amanda said with a grin. “Pretty much.”

* * *

Amanda had just gotten back from stepping out to grab some lunch when she ran, almost literally, into a middle-aged woman and her husband, both of them standing in the precinct bullpen looking a little lost. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she told them, biting back her irritation. “Do y’all need help with something?”

To her surprise, the woman lit up when she saw her. “Oh, I know who you must be,” she said, sounding delighted. “You’re Amanda, right?”

“Det. Rollins, dear,” her husband corrected mildly. “You remember what Sonny said about using ranks and last names at work.”

Amanda glanced from the dimples that creased the woman’s cheeks to the equally-familiar mustache her husband sported, putting two and two together. “And you must be Sonny’s parents.”

“Tessa Carisi,” Tessa said, pulling Amanda into a brief but bone-crushing hug. “And this is Dom, of course.”

Dom settled for offering Amanda a handshake, one much gentler than the hug his wife had given her. “It’s a pleasure.”

“If you’re looking for Sonny—” Amanda started, but Tessa cut her off with a light laugh.

“Oh no, I know he’s out in the field.” Her smile turned conspiratorial and she leaned in to tell Amanda in an undertone, “In fact, that’s why we’re here. He’s more or less forbidden us from stopping by his workplace, so we figured we’d pop in, take a quick look—”

“You figured,” Dom muttered, looking embarrassed. “I had nothing to do with this.”

Tessa gave him a look but Amanda just laughed lightly, shaking her head. “Well, come on in,” she said, leading them to Carisi’s desk. “This is Sonny’s desk, and this here is Fin, our sarge.” Fin offered them a wave without looking up from his paperwork. “I’d introduce you to Olivia but she’s doing some last minute prep for tonight.” She glanced at them. “I assume we’ll be seeing you tonight?”

Dom nodded. “Of course,” he told her. “Sonny keeps us up to date of all the things happening around this place, and we’re looking forward to putting a face with everyone’s name.”

“Of course,” Amanda said.

Tessa leaned closer to her. “And of course, I’m looking forward to meeting the lawyer you guys partner with. We’ve heard so much about him, and I think it’s amazing how far he and Sonny have come.”

Amanda nodded. “You’re not wrong about that,” she said. “Hell, I was skeptical they’d ever find a way to make it work in the beginning.”

“Well, you know how Sonny can be,” Dom said comfortably. “He has a tendency to be underfoot, and he was so excited to learn from ADA Barba, so I can only imagine how that looked. But it seems to have worked out for both of them.”

“True enough,” Amanda said. “Of course, balancing our line of work with a romantic relationship can get difficult but they really seem to be figuring it out…”

She trailed off at the looks on Tessa and Dom’s faces — confusion, surprise, something even bordering on shock — and she felt her stomach sink somewhere near her knees. “I...I missed the last part of what you just said,” Tessa said, a little faintly.

Amanda swallowed, tossing a panicked look at Fin, who had finally looked up from his paperwork. “I mean, uh, y’all know that ADA Barba partners with our office on the law side of things.”

“That part we knew,” Dom said, his voice low, reaching out to rest a hand on Tessa’s shoulder, and Tessa raised her own hand to cover his, her fingers shaking. “I think we should, uh, head out. Grab some lunch.”

“Oh, sure,” Amanda said, her eyes wide, and she watched them leave before looking at Fin. “Please tell me I didn’t just do that.”

“Didn’t just out your colleague to his parents?” Fin shrugged. “Sure seems like it. At the very least, they didn’t know Barba and Carisi are together.”

“Fuck,” Amanda swore, glaring at Fin. “How are you so calm about this?!”

Fin shrugged and highlighted something. “I’m not the one who has to go tell Barba.”

All the blood drained from Amanda’s face. “Fuck.”

* * *

Amanda took a deep, steadying breath before knocking on Barba’s office door and poking her head in. “Can I come in?”

Barba glanced up from the casefile he was flipping through, something like amusement in his expression. “This is a pleasant change from your colleagues, who tend to just waltz in here whenever they feel like it.” He tossed the casefile on his desk and arched an eyebrow at her as she edged her way into his office. “How can I help you, Detective?”

She cleared her throat. “Well, I just ran into Sonny’s parents in the precinct.”

“What?” Barba said blankly. “I had planned for them coming over for dinner, not wandering around Manhattan! They could completely blow the surprise!”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine,” Amanda assured him, biting her lip before blurting, “Um, random question, though — they’re aware that you and Sonny are, uh, together, right?”

“Of course they are,” Barba said, his brow furrowed. “Why wouldn’t they be?”

Amanda winced, not sure how to break it to him. “Well, I mean, they obviously know that you work closely with our office and with Sonny, but, uh, if you think about it, before you, the only people Sonny dated, the only significant others they would’ve met were all, um, women.”

Barba stared at her. “Ok. So?”

“So…”

Something of her panic and guilt must’ve showed on her face because Barba sat upright, his expression darkening. “What did you say to them?” he demanded.

“I didn’t say anything!” she said, before adding, “It’s just the way that they reacted when I brought up that you two were, uh, mixing business and pleasure.”

Barba sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Please never say that again in regards to my relationship with Sonny.”

Despite herself, Amanda almost laughed. “Well, however you want to word it, they, uh, they looked a little…” She broke off, searching for the right word. “Shook.”

“Shook?” Barba repeated, incredulous. “Are you thirteen years old?”

Amanda scowled. “Fine, they looked a little upset.”

“Upset?!”

Barba’s voice elevated to a pitch that was probably only meant to be heard by dogs, and Amanda winced again before telling him, quickly, “But you said they know, so—”

“Of course they know!” Barba snapped, though his expression was beginning to show a little bit of the panic that Amanda had felt the entire way over to One Hogan Place. “I never would’ve asked them to come if I didn’t think they knew we were in a relationship!” He gestured wildly in a way that he had almost certainly picked up from Sonny, and it would have been endearing if he wasn’t so close to losing it. “I mean, hell, Sonny’s mom knows to call my office if she can’t reach him at the precinct! What do they think, that we’re just colleagues?”

Amanda shrugged helplessly. “It sure seems like it.”

Barba sank back into his seat, his expression ashen. “Oh my God.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Amanda assured him, even though the words sounded hollow to her.

“Oh my _ God_,” Barba repeated, running a hand across his face. “What the hell am I going to tell Sonny?”

Amanda winced again. “You could always start with sorry?” she suggested before clearing her throat and adding, “Speaking of, um, sorry. And…” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “I’m gonna, uh, go.”

She didn’t bother sticking around to hear what he had to say next, just making a hasty escape in hopes that this entire thing was now behind her.

* * *

Sonny smiled instantly when he saw Barba, the usual smile that always made Barba feel like he’d just stepped into a pool of sunlight, though he also raised a slightly inquisitive eyebrow at the coffee in Barba’s hand. “You know they serve coffee here, right?” he asked, looking pointedly at the menu of the coffeeshop they were meeting in.

“Yes, I’m aware, but it’s a multiple coffee kind of day,” Barba said, only slightly waspish, and as if proving his point, he drained the coffee in his hand before accepting the cup Sonny had for him. “Happy birthday, by the way.”

He leaned in and kissed Sonny lightly, smiling slightly when Sonny grabbed his tie and held him in place for a long moment before letting him go. “It is now that you’re here,” he told him, still grinning that stupid grin, and Barba had a hard time not smiling like an idiot as well.

“How’s the case?” he asked instead, taking a sip of coffee.

Sonny made a face. “Ugh.”

“Say no more.” Barba took another sip of coffee before asking, somewhat carefully, “And, uh, how are you? Have you gotten any calls from your friends or family? Your throngs of admirers?”

“Throngs of admirers,” Sonny repeated with a snort of laughter. “Yeah, if that’s what you’re calling my sisters these days, then sure. Texts from Gina and Bella and a Facebook post from Teresa. And I talked to my parents a little while ago.”

Barba tried not to look too interested. “Oh?” he said, with what he hoped was mild disinterest. “How’d that go?”

Sonny waved a dismissive hand. “They’re out for the day running some errands or something so we didn’t talk long.”

Nodding slowly, Barba took another long sip of coffee, mostly to buy himself some time. “Speaking of your parents,” he said in a completely casual segue, “I was thinking about it, and I realized that I don’t think I’ve ever officially been introduced to them.”

He knew Sonny well enough to recognize the guilty look that passed briefly over his face. “I’m sure you have,” he said dismissively.

“Uh-huh,” Barba said, clearly skeptical. “Well, at the very least they know about me, right?”

This time, there was no mistaking the guilty look on Sonny’s face. “Of course they know about you,” he scoffed. “Why would you even ask that?”

“So if they know about me, they know about us, right?”

Barba struggled to keep his voice light, but it didn’t matter. The look on Sonny’s face said everything, and for a moment, Barba almost regretted even bringing it up. “Listen, Raf—” Sonny started, his voice low, earnest. “I’ve been wanting to tell them about us, honestly I have, I was just...I dunno. Waiting for the right time, I guess. And, uh, every time I’ve been home to see them, there’s always been something that comes up and it just…”

He trailed off and Barba nodded jerkily. “Right,” he said coolly. “So this entire time, when I’ve listened to you discussing our weekend plans or whatever with your parents on the phone, this entire time they thought we were just colleagues?”

“I mean, I think they’d at least consider us friends—” The joke didn’t land and Sonny sighed. “Raf, I know that my parents are good people. But they’re also, y’know, Catholic. And I just…” He broke off, looking miserable. “I can’t get over this - this fear that telling them will change everything. That they might see me differently, or treat me differently.”

“I get that,” Barba told him softly. “Believe me, I get it.”

Sonny nodded and took a deep, bracing breath. “But I’m gonna tell them the next time I see them, ok? I promise. It’s time.”

Barba shook his head slightly, hating that he had even brought this up, and hating even more what he was about to tell Sonny. “Look, coming out is something that is very personal, and something you have every right to do on your own terms—”

“I’m a take-charge guy,” Sonny interrupted, flashing him an approximation of his usual grin. “I like to charge of things in my life, you know that.”

“Funny, I don’t remember much of that take charge attitude in the bedroom last night…”

Sonny rolled his eyes, blushing slightly. “That’s not what I mean and you know it.”

“Yeah, I do.”

He paused, trying to figure out how to say what he needed to, and Sonny glanced at him. “You’re upset,” he said with a sigh. “And I know I deserve it, and honestly, I’d probably be pissed too if I were you—”

“No, I—” Barba winced. “It’s, uh, it’s not about that. It’s...well, one day you’re probably going to be able to look back on this and laugh, but, uh, you know how you’ve always wanted a surprise party?”

Sonny blinked. “Normally, with a surprise party, you’re not really supposed to tell the guest of honor beforehand.”

“Yeah, I know, it’s just that part of that surprise was inviting your parents.”

Barba said it all in a rush and Sonny’s smile faded. “You — what?”

“Obviously I realize now that this was a big mistake, and I should’ve talked to you first, but…” He trailed off, searching Sonny’s expression before hesitantly offering, “I can be just your colleague tonight. If that will help.”

Before the words were even out of his mouth, Sonny was shaking his head. “No,” he said firmly. “I won’t make you do that. Besides—” He reached out and grabbed Barba’s hand, squeezing it gently. “I owe it to us to tell them, and besides, I want them to know.”

Barba nodded slowly. “If you’re sure,” he said, before leaning in and kissing him gently. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Sonny told him. “And I promise, after tonight, my parents are gonna know just how much I love you, too.”

“Sap,” Barba told him, but he was smiling, and as Sonny kissed him once more, he put all thought of it out of his mind, at least for the moment.

* * *

At Forlini’s that evening, everyone was mingling ahead of Sonny’s arrival. Well, ‘everyone’ was probably a generous term, since it was mostly the SVU detectives and a handful of unis that Sonny was on friendly terms with, as well as Rafael and Carmen and, of course, Sonny’s parents, who were standing off to the side by themselves, looking slightly apprehensive.

Barba drained his second drink of the evening and glanced at Carmen for support. “Wish me luck,” he said bracingly before weaving through the crowd of cops to offer Sonny’s parents a halting smile. “Mrs. Carisi, Mr. Carisi, I’m Rafael Barba. It’s very nice to meet you both.”

“Rafael,” Tessa said, and he was surprised by how warm her voice was as she shook his hand. “It’s lovely to meet you.”

“Thank you,” he said, taking a deep breath before adding, “I’m so glad you could make it tonight. I just wanted to come over and apologize for the unfortunate miscommunication earlier—”

“So you’re not in a relationship with our son?” Dom interrupted, and Barba winced.

“Oh, no, I very much am,” he told them, his smile turning slightly cold. “I was more talking about how you found out about it.”

Tessa shook her head slowly, her expression falling. “Was it something we did, Rafael?” she asked, and Barba physically recoiled, staring at her.

“I’m sorry?”

Dom shook his head. “Honey, stop!” he admonished, setting a hand lightly on her shoulder, but Tessa shrugged out from under it, scowling at him. 

“No, I wanna ask,” she said, before looking back at Barba, something pleading in her expression. “Do you think if we’d done things differently, that Sonny would still be—”

“I understand that this news can come as a shock to some people,” Barba interrupted, his tone icy. “But he is still the same person he’s always been, and if you do or say anything to ruin his birthday, I—”

“Oh, Rafael.” Something about the warm way she said it made Barba think of Sonny, and Tessa reached up to pat his cheek lightly. “We’re not upset that Sonny’s gay.”

Barba looked automatically at Dom for confirmation, and Dom grinned at him. “Definitely not,” he said, equally warm.

For the first time all day, Barba felt like he could breathe again. “Oh thank God,” he said, with a light, slightly awkward laugh. “For a moment there, I thought this was going to get very dark.”

“We love Sonny regardless,” Tessa told him firmly. “But the thought that he felt like he couldn’t come and talk to us about it — did we do something wrong as parents? To make him feel that way?”

She was so concerned that Barba was tempted to give her a hug, but he figured it’d be a little soon for that. “Truthfully, no,” he said instead. “I think this was just something that Sonny had to—”

“Sorry to interrupt!” Amanda said, sidling up to them, what looked like a Long Island iced tea in hand — and judging by the smile she gave them, it wasn’t her first. “Is now a good time?”

“Not really,” Barba told her warningly.

She ignored him. “Hi Tessa, hi Dom. I see you’ve met our ADA, Rafael Barba.” She set a hand on his arm, giving Tessa and Dom what she clearly thought was a winning grin. “You know, I’ve worked with Rafael for years, and he’s never been happier than he is now. And at the end of the day, that’s all that matters, right?”

Barba cleared his throat. “Detective, it’s fine. They are fine with Sonny being gay.”

Amanda was visibly relieved, her shoulders slumping and her smile turning far less forced and far more genuine. “Oh thank God,” she said, tossing back most of the contents of her Long Island. “Then no one really has to feel bad about how this information came out, right?”

She disappeared back into the crowd without waiting for confirmation, and Rafael rolled his eyes before turning back to Sonny’s parents, who still looked slightly apprehensive. “So what do we do now?” Tessa asked. “Should we still be here? I don’t want to make him uncomfortable.”

Barba shook his head. “No, you should stay. Sonny’s planning on telling you tonight, so I think the best birthday gift we can give him at this point is just to keep him in the closet until then.” He made a face at the choice of words. “So to speak.”

“He’s coming!” Fin called from where he was stationed by the door, and Barba quickly snapped to attention.

“Ok, great, places everyone!” he said. “And remember, we’re shouting ‘surprise’, not ‘happy birthday’, since the polysyllables are apparently too difficult for some people to manage in unison.”

He glared at the offending cops before taking his place near the door and putting on a grin that was close to genuine.

Sonny pushed the door open and the whole bar shouted, “Surprise!”

“Oh my God,” Sonny said, beaming, and Barba had to give him credit for how surprised he was pretending to be. “Raf, I thought you said we were just getting drinks!”

Barba hummed in agreement as Sonny pulled him in for a hug. “Don’t oversell it,” he warned in an undertone, and Sonny laughed.

“Happy Birthday, Sonny!” Tessa said, her smile matching her son’s, and Sonny gave both her and Dom hugs.

“I thought you guys were running errands,” he said, mock-offended at being lied to.

“Well, we are,” Dom said, grinning. “You’re the one who always says taking the ferry from Staten Island is a chore.” He patted Sonny’s back. “We’re just so happy to be included.” He nodded toward Barba. “You’ve got a really wonderful friend here, Sonny.”

Barba cleared his throat. “And I’m just glad you could both make it. Now, I should leave you all to catch up, spend some quality time with your son.”

He made as if to leave, hoping to make a beeline to the bar to grab a few drinks while Sonny and his parents talked, but before he could, Sonny grabbed his hand. “Hey, can I have just two seconds with him?” he asked his parents, who exchanged glances.

“Of course,” Tessa said smoothly, and she and Dom headed over to a booth against the wall.

Sonny looked back at Barba, panic clear in his expression. “What if they don’t react the way I think they will?” he asked in a desperate undertone.

Barba was so tempted to cup Sonny’s cheek, to smooth his thumb against his cheekbone and pull him close to kiss him, but he knew he couldn’t. Not yet.

So he settled instead for covertly squeezing Sonny’s hand, out of the line of his parents’ sight. “Then I will be here,” he promised. “And we’ll get through it together.”

Sonny took a deep breath. “Ok,” he said, before giving Barba a slightly shaky smile. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Barba told him. He watched Sonny make his way over to his parents and quickly went to find himself another drink.

He needed several more after the day he’d had.

* * *

“Well consider me suitably surprised,” Sonny said with a chuckle as he sat down across from his parents. “Thank you guys for coming.”

Tessa beamed at him, and he was a little taken aback by what sure looked like tears shining in her eyes. “We wouldn’t miss it,” she assured him. “We love you so much.”

Sonny’s smile faltered, just slightly, because while his mother was certainly affectionate, it wasn’t normally like this. “I love you guys, too. But uh…” He trailed off, well aware that his parents looked — well, almost eager. Expectant. Like they’d been waiting for this. “But, uh, there’s been something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

“You can tell us anything,” his mom said instantly, and his dad sighed and gave her a look.

“Just let the man talk,” he said patiently, and Sonny cleared his throat.

“Well, uh, I — I guess I’m not really sure where to start, since it’s not like this conversation comes, y’know, naturally. But, uh, Rafael—“

“He seems like a really great partner, honey,” Tessa interjected, and Dom rolled his eyes.

“Tessa.”

His mom quickly added, “At work, I mean.”

Sonny stared at them for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, he is. He's also a great partner outside of work.” He took a deep breath. “We're together. Rafael is my boyfriend. And I've never been happier in my life.” It turned out that the words were easy to say after all, though that was in no small part because they were entirely true. “And so I just, uh, I hope you guys can accept that.”

Tessa was crying now, crying and smiling and holding onto Dom’s hand with a vice grip if the look on his dad’s face was any indication. “Of course we can,” she told him, and he felt tears prick in his eyes at the sincerity in her voice. “Your happiness is more important to us than anything else. And if Rafael makes you happy, then that's all we care about.”

Sonny swallowed around the lump in his throat and glanced at Dom. “Dad?”

Dom beamed at him, slowly extricating his hand from Tessa’s death grip. “What your mom said,” he said simply. “Besides, I like him. I like him a lot.”

Sonny barked a relieved laugh, hastily wiping tears from his cheeks. “Me too.”

“I don’t really understand the three piece suit, but—“

Sonny laughed again, looking over at where Rafael was trying not to watch them. “You will in time,” he said, grinning at Rafael, who smiled back at him. “Oh man, I didn’t know how I was gonna tell you guys.”

“We’re just glad you finally did,” his mom said simply, before adding, “Happy birthday, Sonny.”

“Thank you,” Sonny said softly. “I really think it is.”

* * *

“So I know the surprise part of this evening didn’t quite turn out the way you planned,” Sonny said, sitting down on the barstool next to Rafael, who glanced up at him, his suit jacket long since abandoned, his shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows, “but, uh, I want you to know, this party might just go down as one of the happiest nights of my life.”

Rafael made a face as he lifted his glass of scotch to his lips and took a sip. “Well, I guess that makes up for the stress of planning the whole thing only to watch all of my plans fall apart.”

Sonny laughed and shook his head, nudging him companionably with his shoulder. “So how long have they known?”

Rafael glanced sideways at him. “Beg pardon?”

“My parents.” Rafael’s expression flickered, just slightly. “How long have they known? About us?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Rafael muttered, but the tips of his ears burned red the way they did when he was caught in a lie.

Sonny just chuckled lightly. “Raf, I know my parents. They are not good actors. They knew about us, right?”

A flash of guilt crossed Rafael’s face. “Ok, Amanda might’ve accidentally told them, but in her defense, she thought they knew.”

“And the coffee that you wanted to grab with me, that was your way of trying to smooth things over with me ahead of time.”

Sonny said it without accusation and Rafael sighed and tossed the rest of his drink back. “It’s been a very long day,” he said. “And I was just — I don’t know, trying to detangle things. Make everything ok. Because you deserve at least that much.”

Sonny reached out and laced their fingers together before twisting his wrist and raising Rafael’s hand to his lips, kissing his knuckles lightly. “You made everything ok,” he said softly. “And I couldn’t have done this without you.”

Rafael shook his head. “You could have,” he said, with casual confidence. “I know you could have.”

“Maybe,” Sonny said. “But without you, I never would’ve had a reason to. I love you.”

Rafael’s answering smile was soft, and sweet, and just for Sonny. Only ever for Sonny. “I love you, too. Happy birthday, Sonny.”

Sonny kissed Rafael’s knuckles once more before pulling him close and kissing his temple. “Best birthday ever,” he said confidently. “Now c’mon. Let’s go home.”


End file.
